featured book

Featured Author

Juan Gabriel Vasquezbooks include the 2014 International IMPAC Dublin award winner and national bestseller, The Sound of Things Falling, as well as the award-winning The Informers and The Secret History of Costaguana.

featured book

featured book

Stranger at the Gate

To Be Gay and Christian in America

Format

Paperback

Price

$18.00

Paperback

ISBN 9780452273818

368 Pages

1 Apr 1995

Plume

Adult

Overview

Until Christmans Eve 1991, Mel White was regarded by the leaders of the religious right as one of their most talented and productive supporters. He penned the speeches of Ollie North. He was a ghostwriter for Jerry Falwell, worked with Jim Bakker, flew in Pat Robertson’s private jet, walked sandy beaches with Billy Graham. What these men didn’t know was that Mel White—evangelical minister, committed Christian, family man—was gay.

In this remarkable book, Mel White details his twenty-five years of being counseled, exorcised, electric-shocked, prayed for, and nearly driven to suicide because his church said homosexuality was wrong. But his salvation—to be openly gay and Christian—is more than a unique coming-out story. It is a chilling exposé that goes right into the secret meetings and hidden agendas of the religious right. Told by an eyewitness and sure to anger those Mel White once knew best, Stranger at the Gate is a warning about where the politics of hate may lead America … a brave book by a good man whose words can make us richer in spirit and much wiser too.

Stranger at the Gate

Praise

“A courageous and important book … a clarion call for justice and freedom.” —Malcolm Boyd, Episcopal priest, author of Take Off the Mask

“[Mel White is] perhaps the finest writer I know … a man of integrity and fairness.” —Jerry Falwell, to Daniel Cattau of the Dallas Morning News

“Compelling …eloquent and compassionate … We learn as much about growing up in the Christian right as we do about gay life in Mel White’s heartfelt and revealing memoir.” —San Francisco

Table of Contents

Stranger at the Gate ForewordChapter One: In the Beginning – The Ghost of SilenceChapter Two: Adolescence – The Ghost of FearChapter Three: High School – The Ghost of LonelinessChapter Four: College – The Ghost of False HopeChapter Five: 1962-64, Learning to Tell the TruthChapter Six: 1964-70, Learning About FriendshipChapter Seven: 1970-80, Taking the First Steps Toward IntegrityChapter Eight: 1980-81, Facing RealityChapter Nine: 1981, Surviving Infatuation and IsolationChapter Ten: 1982-83, “It’s Going to Be All Right, Dad!”Chapter Eleven: 1984-90, Giving Up the Ghost! Chapter Twelve: 1990-91, One Last Year of SilenceChapter Thirteen: 1991-93, A Ghost No More!Chapter Fourteen: 1993-94, Time for Doing Justice!Appendix: Six Letters to the Religious RightAuthor’s Notes, References, and Resources